Checking of repairs for electronic vehicle systems

Abstract

The solution is arrived at with a computer-based diagnostic tester which can exchange information with the control devices installed in the motor vehicle using a diagnostic program via a diagnostic interface and via data lines. The motor vehicle-mounted control devices have program routines for self-diagnostics of the control devices and are capable of storing identified faults in the form of fault codes in reserved memory areas. The diagnostic program which is implemented in the diagnostic tester reads the fault codes out from the reserved memory areas, interprets the fault codes and displays them on a display together with the interpretations. In order to check to what extent repairs which have been performed have been successfully concluded, status polling is carried out using the diagnostic program implemented in the diagnostic tester. During this status polling, the status information of all the fault codes known in the system is interrogated and evaluated. In the process, all the fault codes whose fault setting conditions have either been tested positively or whose test requirements were not present in order to be able to carry out a test are displayed. A method for improved checking of repairs is also presented with the diagnostic tester.

1. A computer-based diagnostic tester with a diagnostic program and a diagnostic interface for connecting the diagnostic tester to a group of control devices on which diagnostics are to be performed, characterized in that fault codes and status information relating to fault codes are read out and evaluated from the control devices, using the diagnostic program,
 and in that all the fault codes whose fault setting conditions are met and all the fault codes whose status information indicates that the respective fault codes have not been checked are displayed using the diagnostic tester. 
 
     
     
       2. The diagnostic tester as claimed in  claim 1 , characterized in that fault codes are removed from the display of the diagnostic tester only if a status check has yielded that a successful diagnostic run has taken place for the fault codes to be cleared in the control devices. 
     
     
       3. The diagnostic tester as claimed in  claim 1 , characterized in that the status information of selectable fault codes can be interrogated during a repair. 
     
     
       4. The diagnostic tester as claimed in  claim 1 , characterized in that the status checking is carried out whenever a fault code has been cleared. 
     
     
       5. The diagnostic tester as claimed in  claim 1 , characterized in that the status check is triggered on a timed basis. 
     
     
       6. The diagnostic tester as claimed in  claim 1 , characterized in that the removal of fault codes from the display of the diagnostic tester is blocked for those fault codes whose status information in the control devices indicate an untested state. 
     
     
       7. A diagnostic system for checking motor vehicle control devices, the motor vehicle control devices having self-diagnostic routines which, in the event of malfunctions, store fault codes in motor vehicle-mounted fault memories, and these fault memories can be connected to an external diagnostic tester via a diagnostic interface, a diagnostic program being implemented in the diagnostic tester, characterized in that fault codes and status information relating to fault codes are read out from the control devices and evaluated using the diagnostic program,
 and in that all the fault codes whose fault setting conditions are met and all the fault codes whose status information indicates that the respective fault codes have not been checked are displayed using the diagnostic tester. 
 
     
     
       8. The diagnostic system as claimed in  claim 7 , characterized in that fault codes are cleared on the display of the diagnostic tester only if a status check has yielded that a successful diagnostic run has taken place for the fault codes to be cleared in the control devices. 
     
     
       9. The diagnostic system as claimed in  claim 7 , characterized in that the status information of selectable fault codes can be interrogated during a repair. 
     
     
       10. The diagnostic system as claimed in  claim 7 , characterized in that the status checking is carried out whenever a fault code is to be removed from the display of the diagnostic tester. 
     
     
       11. The diagnostic system as claimed in  claim 7 , characterized in that the status check is triggered on a timed basis. 
     
     
       12. The diagnostic system as claimed in  claim 7 , characterized in that the removal of fault codes from the display of the diagnostic tester is blocked for those fault codes whose status information in the control devices indicates an untested state. 
     
     
       13. A method for improved checking of repairs, in which firstly fault codes are determined using self-diagnostic routines of control devices and are stored in at least one primary fault memory (A), characterized
 in that the fault codes which are determined are displayed on the display of the diagnostic tester and at least a partial repair is carried out by means of the fault codes which are determined, 
 in that in a further method step the repair measure carried out is checked using the diagnostic tester by initiating a further diagnostic run, in which the status of the fault codes which are determined is checked by means of status polling. 
 
     
     
       14. The method as claimed in  claim 13 , characterized in that those determined fault codes whose status check has revealed the state “not tested” continue to be displayed. 
     
     
       15. The method as claimed in  claim 13 , characterized in that the checking of repairs is carried out after each partial repair by means of individual fault checking. 
     
     
       16. The method as claimed in  claim 13 , characterized in that the checking of repairs is carried out at the end of the repair.